You're Gonna Make It After All
by Hopeful Writer
Summary: Uploaded again! TK has an accident pole vaulting and has to get back on his feet. Kari is there to help him. Takari.


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. You can stop asking me now.

A/N - Howdy. Now that ff.net is working again, and I'm back from vacation, I've got a story for y'all. TK had an accident pole vaulting and he's got to get back on his feet. Kari's going to help him. TAKARI.

Shout outs to Dreamer4, Light Gamer, Dark Gamer, EeyoreP, Knight, SaturnsChild, EvilTenchi, PhoniexChild, Wolfie, TogetherAgain, AAUK, Arylwren, Digicowboy, Phire Phoenix, Takari's Baybee, AlexPG13, shadow2k, and Immia.

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You're Gonna Make It After All

By: Hopeful Writer

38 feet. TK Takaishi made the jump cleanly. He bounced off the soft mat and to his feet, trying to figure out if his opponent would make the jump. 38 feet was the highest he'd ever scaled before, and he wasn't sure he could go further.

His competition made it over the bar. TK swore silently. -Gotta keep going ,- he thought angrily, feeling the adrenaline pump through his veins. -Gotta win. Gotta bring home the gold.-

"Go, TK! You can do it!" TK turned slightly to meet the sparkling eye of his slightly younger best friend, Kari Kamiya. She went to every meet.

TK braced himself to run. -I am one with the pole,- he told himself, not joking. He'd found that meditating helped him with his pole vaulting. And, so far, it had because he was ranked number one in the county high schools.

TK took off. His pole smacked the ground and he flew into the air. Everything was perfect; he was going to make it. Then he heard a noise that no pole valuator should ever hear, a sickening crack that told him his pole had broken. Frantically, he tried to make it to the mat, but he was too far away. He landed on the concrete runway and blacked out.

********

TK awoke to worried sobs and muttered whispers. Opening his eyes was painful, and his head thumped something awful, but he forced himself to wake up and see what was going on.

Kari was sobbing next to his bed, and his brother, Matt, looked angry. Tai, Kari's brother, was trying to comfort them. "TK!" Kari shrieked as he opened his eyes.

He grinned. "Hey, beautiful," he joked weakly. He and Kari always play-flirted with each other.

She smiled affectionately. "How're you feeling?"

TK frowned. "All right, I guess. I've got a headache to beat the band and my arm hurts something awful, but I'm okay. I'm not dead, right?"

"God forbid," Kari said sharply.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Howdy, partner," Matt greeted, saving TK from more scolding.

"Hiya, Matt." TK beamed cutely at his brother. "Hey, Tai," he added to the brown-haired boy who was coming closer.

A nurse came in. "How is he?" Matt demanded, showing his overprotective side.

"Yeah, how am I?" TK piped up, knowing the nurse couldn't see he was awake.

"You're going to be just fine," the nurse told him, checking the machines around TK.

"Can I go home?"

The nurse laughed at his impatience. "In a few days."

********

TK got to go home three days later. His arm was broken in three places and he'd had a minor concussion. Kari, Matt, and Tai visited him every chance they got, but it was still a relief to go home.

He couldn't pole vault again for the rest of the year. That hurt more than his arm had. The coach looked crushed when TK told him the news, and TK could have sworn that he heard the coach mutter, "There goes the championship."

Kari stayed with TK a lot. When he was really smarting, like on days when he knew there was a meet, she would listen to him curse for hours about his luck. Then she'd hug him and remind him about how he would take them by storm next year.

After he got the cast off, TK went back to practice. He couldn't compete for the rest of the year, but he was allowed to practice, as long as he didn't go too high. He set the bar to 36 feet and ran. But when he got to the point where he was supposed to jump, he balked. -I can't do it,- he realized. -I... I'm afraid.-

He tried twice more and, each time, he couldn't get passed the jumping point. He swore aloud and began to walk briskly away. About ten feet from the school, Kari caught up to him. "I saw," she told him immediately.

"Great." TK was in no mood to talk.

Kari didn't want to press it. "You'll get it, buddy. Just give it time.

********

Kari was right, as usual, but the road to getting it was not easy. TK couldn't clear 38 feet anymore. And certainly not go higher, especially when 38 feet, two inches was the height he'd fallen at.

But TK made it. He'd never let anything stop him before, and this wasn't any different. He was in the championship, trying to reclaim his title as county greatest, 

the title he'd lost last year after the fall.

He cleared 37 feet, 37'2", 37'4", all the way to 38 feet. He cleared 38'. But his remaining opponent had made it first.

The competition couldn't get over the 38'2". If TK could make it, he'd be the champion again. Otherwise, it was a tie.

He braced himself. "Go, TK!" He heard Kari's faint voice in the crowd and felt a surge of confidence. He could do this. He ran.

His pole smacked the ground and he flew. The pole bent and shifted, but held strong. He skimmed the bar to land safely on the mat. He didn't move, for fear of knocking it off. The judge said, "Cleared." The crowd cheered.

TK hopped off the mat and threw both hands in the air. The panic had left him completely.

"TK!" TK turned to see Kari flying towards him. She threw herself in his arms and hugged him tightly. She looked up, into his eyes, and suddenly they were kissing. The crowd roared.

The kiss was long and serious. TK's hands found a place around Kari's waist and her hands were on his shoulders. A ripple of passion sent them both shivering. TK didn't want to pull away, but he did, reluctantly. He found he wasn't blushing, nor embarrassed that the whole crowd had seen that. Kari moved away from him shyly, and a reporter moved in.

"Mr. Takaishi, can I ask a few questions?"

TK was surprised. "Sure."

"How does it feel to reclaim your title as county champion?"

"Really good," he admitted.

The reporter asked some boring questions, the usual stuff big winners got asked. Then, as the final question, he asked, "So you've won the gold, and scored with one of he most sought-after girls in the county. What do you have to say now?"

TK looked right at Kari, who had turned a deep shade of red. He glanced at the reporter, pencil poised over his notebook. He thought about the months he'd been recovering. Kari had come over every day, just to be with him. Then he knew exactly what to say.

TK looked back to his best friend and said, "Hey, Kari? Will you be my girlfriend?"

Kari stared at him for a moment with an mixed expression of awe and admiration, and TK got ready for the worst.

She beamed, surprising him. "Of course," she whispered, taking a step towards him.

TK scooped her up in his arms and she hugged him tightly. The reporter grinned and left quickly, along with the crowd that remained. "You didn't just say that for the publicity, right?" TK joked.

Kari nestled her head against his chest. "If you're as good a dater as you are a kisser..." She trailed off, and TK kissed her head.

"Of course," he boasted. "I am the most perfect romantic in the world."

Kari kissed his lips lightly. "Okay, tough guy. Whatever you say."

********

TK read the newspaper article the next day. He wore a small smile until the end. Then he beamed. It read:

"Takaishi may be happy that he won, but nothing thrilled him more than receiving a kiss from beautiful Kari Kamiya. After everything, all he had to say was, 'Hey, Kari? Will you be my girlfriend?'

"She said yes."

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A/N - Done. It took me a while to get past some severe writer's block, but I did it (as I write this at a very boring awards ceremony -- I'm in a red blazer and dress pants). Hope you enjoyed it. Review, please. You know what to do.


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